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Taxpayer Supports for Biomass in Federal Farm Bill

For years, proponents of bioenergy and biofuels promised that the industry would help reduce U.S. dependence on fossil fuels, decrease...

Current Agricultural Policy’s Effects on Water Quality

For more than 75 years, market-distorting agricultural subsidies have produced numerous unintended consequences that have degraded water...

Federal Subsidies for the United States Enrichment Corporation

The United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) was established in 1992 as a wholly-owned federal entity until it was privatized in 1998....

DOE Loan Guarantee Program: Vogtle Reactors 3&4

In February 2010, the Department of Energy (DOE) conditionally offered Southern Company and its partners a total of $8.33 billion in...

Impact of Ag Subsidies and Record Farm Profits in Farm Country

Despite last year’s drought, the agriculture sector recorded its second highest year of profits in a generation, down just three percent...

Achieving Measurable Outcomes in Agricultural Conservation Programs

All federal agricultural programs – including conservation programs - should prove that they are achieving measurable outcomes that...

Corporate Consolidation in Agriculture Fact Sheet

Despite best intentions, sometimes federal programs do more harm than good and cause unintended consequences that unnecessarily shift...

Income Guarantee for Agribusinesses: Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) Shallow Loss Program

“Shallow loss” programs are a luxury that would be the envy of any other industry. They are market- and trade-distorting entitlement...

Reforming the Farm Safety Net: Principles for Accountability

Every five or so years, Congress has an opportunity to reform agriculture policy in the farm bill, a massive piece of legislation that...

Biomass Crop Assistance Program Fact Sheet

The Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP), a new program added to the energy title in the 2008 farm bill, was intended to spur...

Biorefinery Assistance Program Fact Sheet

The Biorefinery Assistance Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Development office, was intended to...

Department of Energy Loan Guarantees: Biofuels and Biomass

Created as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program has $34 billion in...

Biomass Research and Development Initiative Fact Sheet

The Biomass Research and Development Initiative (BRDI) provides grants to companies, universities, and government research centers to...

Oil Shale: Failing Taxpayers for Decades

Since the early 20th century, the federal government and private industry have attempted to commercialize oil shale but after years of...

Golden Fleece Awarded to Risk Management Agency for Risking Taxpayer Dollars

Taxpayers for Common Sense awarded the Golden Fleece to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency for wasting taxpayer funds on risk management education for crops ranging from Christmas trees to turf grass....

Subsidizing Oil Shale: Tracing Federal Support for Oil Shale Development in the United States

With fiscal cliff looming, TCS calls for end to government handouts for failed oil shale experiments....

Loan Guarantee Program 101

A basic primer on the Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program and answers general questions on the history, administration, and overall effect of the program....

Farm Bill 101

The Farm Bill is a massive piece of legislation that guides food and farm policy. It covers wide-ranging topics from rural broadband service to farm subsidy payments....

Agricultural Safety Net 101

The agricultural safety net refers to the various federal programs and policies that insulate agricultural producers from the costs of conducting business....

Analysis of FY13 Continuing Resolution: Special Carve-outs

H.J. Res. 117 — Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013 was released this morning (9/11/2012). TCS staff will be posting relevant documents and analysis as we digest this proposal over the coming days....

Record Drought Results in Record Profit

Special interests are always looking for a silver lining. This year, it’s the farm lobby and sympathetic politicians shamelessly taking...

Department of Energy Loan Guarantees: $8 Billion Allocated for Fossil Fuel Projects

While the program was intended for emerging energy technologies, mature industries like coal and nuclear are eligible as well. Congress provided the program with funding in several areas including advanced nuclear reactors, renewable and energy efficiency, front-end nuclear fuel cycle technology, and advanced fossil fuels....

With Agriculture Disaster Aid Congress Pays Now, Hopes to Save Later

Citing record drought conditions throughout the country, the House is debating today legislation to retroactively extend four...

Taxpayers Lose with More Unnecessary Farm Subsidy Layers

Federal farm programs are ripe for reform, especially those that lock in record high prices and guarantee farmers’ expected income. As...

Federal-Free Risk Management in Agriculture

Like all businesses, agricultural producers face a number of risks in maintaining a profitable enterprise. Successful management of these...

Department of Energy Loan Guarantees: Uranium Enrichment

The Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program was created in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to provide Treasury backed loan...

Government Report Reinforces Need to Harvest Savings in Crop Insurance

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) today released a report detailing the potential to save more than a billion dollars a year...

Crop Insurance: A Federal Cash Assurance Program

Federal crop insurance is a highly taxpayer subsidized program that allows agricultural producers to shift their business risk onto...

Department of Energy Loan Guarantees: Renewable and Energy Efficiency

The Department of Energy loan guarantee program that backed Solyndra, a solar panel manufacturer which went bankrupt on August 31, 2011...

Taxpayer-Backed Loan Guarantees for Liquid Coal: Medicine Bow, Wyoming

The Medicine Bow plant has been repeatedly delayed over eight years. Putting the full faith and credit of the U.S. government behind this costly and risky project is fiscally reckless. ...

Department of Energy Loan Guarantee Program: Uranium Enrichment

The Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program was created in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to provide Treasury backed loan...

Department of Energy Loan Guarantee Program: Status Update on Proposed, Pending, and Final Applicants

Passed as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program currently has $34.8...

Super Cuts for the Super Committee

Taxpayers for Common Sense has been working hard to meet the challenge of that the so-called Super Committee is facing - $1.2-1.5...

Comparison of Essential Air Service Program to Alternative Coach Bus Service

Report Highlights Significant Savings in Essential Air Service Program...

Comparing Proposals for a National Infrastructure Bank

With extension of the nation's surface transportation program currently being debated in the halls of Congress, policymakers are...

Essentially Wasteful: The Essential Air Service

Congress has split town leaving an important deal unfinished. Yes, the debt ceiling got raised, but there’s another important piece of...

Taxpayer Risks with the Loan Guarantee Program

The Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee program carries extremely high taxpayer risk, potentially jeopardizing billions of taxpayer dollars if energy project loans default....

Ongoing TCS Analysis of the FY2012 Budget Proposal

The FY2012 Presidential Budget Request was released this morning. TCS staff will be posting relevant documents and analysis as we digest...

Common Sense Cuts—$900 billion in savings over 10 years

The time has come for Congress to begin a serious discussion about how it is going to correct the current budgetary path into deeper and...

TCS Recommended Budget Cuts for the 112th Congress

The time has come for Congress to begin a serious discussion about how it is going to correct the current budgetary path into deeper and...

Green Scissors 2010

Taxpayers for Common Sense joined a number of environmental and consumer groups and a bipartisan slate of Representatives today in...

New Report Finds DOE Loan Guarantee Program Riddled with Problems

 The Government Accountability Office released a new report today, finding that the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program...

Federal Loan Guarantees for Nuclear Reactors: Details of the Current Applicants

On February 16, 2010, the Department of Energy offered the first conditional nuclear loan guarantee of $8.3 billion to Southern Company...

DOE Loan Guarantees: Overview, Risks, and More

Created in Title 17 of the 2005 Energy Policy Act, the Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program has received increased scrutiny with the default of a loan guarantee to the solar start-up company, Solyndra....

Obama to Contractors: Don’t Cheat Uncle Sam

It was payback time for President Obama this week when he threw down the gauntlet to tax-dodging contractors.Taxpayers pay contractors...

Senate Version of The Clean Energy Deployment Administration (CEDA)

Both the House and Senate have proposed the creation of the new federal financing entity known as the Clean Energy Deployment...

Congressional Budget Office Analysis Confirms Senate CEDA Jeopardizes Billions of Taxpayer Dollars

The American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009 (ACELA), S. 1462, as approved by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in...

Department of Energy: Loan Guarantee Program Overview

Created in Title 17 of the 2005 Energy Policy Act, the Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program has received increased scrutiny with the default of a loan guarantee to the solar start-up company, Solyndra....

Risky Business on Wall Street

This morning the federal government (which means you the American taxpayer) became the not-so-proud owner of American International Group...

Banking on the Future

Investing in Smart Water Strategies for Pennsylvania and the Nation...

Let’s End the Century of Subsidies

The following statement was released today by Steve Ellis, Senior Director of Water Resources at Taxpayers for Common Sense on the 100th anniversary of the United States Bureau of Reclamation:...

Energy Polluter Poised to Reap $62 Billion in Taxpayer Handouts

WASHINGTON, DC - Government subsidies to oil, coal and nuclear power industries could double if the Senate passes the House energy bill...

From the Ashes

Reducing the Harmful Effects and Rising Costs of Western Wildfires...

Syria: Excuse 535 To Not Cut the Deficit

Volume XVIII No. 37 Possible action in Syria has become the most recent excuse du jour for Pentagon boosters...